Rotary folding mechanism for printing-presses.



No. 870,964. PATENTED' Hex/ 12, 1907.

HLP. HUSBY;

ROTARY FOLDING MECHANISM FOR'PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 81. 1907 8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ms Nokms PETERS co., wasumcrc-n, n. c

PATENTED NOV. 12, 1907 H. P. HUSBY. ROTARY FOLDING MECHANISM FORPRINTING PRRssRs;

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

TH'I NORRIS Frrsns cm. WASNINGYM. o. c

PATENTE-D NOV. 12, 1907. H. P." HUSBY.

ROTARY FOLDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31. 1907.

a Sun's-sum a.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS P. HUSBY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; ASSIGNOR TO THE GOSS PRINTING PRESSCOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ROTARY FOLDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTINGPRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12, 1907.

Application filed May 31.1907. Serial No. 376.513.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, I'IANS P. IIUsBY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Folding Mechanism for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to rotary folding mechanism for printing presses,and has particularly for its object to provide a new and improvedfolding mechanism for transversely folding paper upon the run, and whichwill operate at a greater speed than has hitherto been practical.

In the drawings,Figure 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 is a section online 2--2 of Fig. l, showing the coacting cutting cylinder in dottedlines; Fig. 3 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the foldingknives and slot-.

ted cross-heads in another position; Fig. l is a detail, being aperspective view of one end of one of the shafts carrying the foldingknives and showing the slotted head; and Fig. 4 is an end view of amodified formof cross-head.

Referring to the drawings,5 indicates a folding cylinder mounted on ashaft 6 which is suitably journaled in the side-frames 7 of the folderframe. Said cylinder carries one or more shafts 8, each carrying afolding blade 9, which is preferably made in sections, as is best shownin Fig. 1. These shafts, with their folding blades, are preferably twoin number mounted diametrically opposite each other, as is best shown inFigs. 2 and 3, although the number, of course, may be varied. Each ofsaid shafts carries at its end a cross-head 10, which is provided with alongitudinal slot or groove l 1 running from end to end of thecross-head.

l213 indicate folding rollers placed near the periphery of the foldingcylinder 5, where they may receive the sheets thrust between them by thefolding blade and complete the transverse fold, as hereinafterdescribed.

14 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2) indicates a cutting cylinder,which, when the folding cylinder 5 is used as a cutting aswell as afolding cylinder, cooperates with the cylinder 5 to sever transverselythe webs into sheets, for the folding of which my mechanism isparticularly designed. The folding cylinder, folding rollers and cuttingcylinder 14 are driven by any suitable mechanism. I prefer to use myfolding cylinder also as a cutting cylinder, and have so illustrated itin the drawings.

15 (see Fig. 2) indicates a cutting-knife mounted upon the cuttingcylinder 14.

16 indicates a block, which is let into the surface of the foldingcylinder 5 and secured thereto in the usual manner.

17 indicates pins which impale the lead end of the sheet and which,forming no part of my present invention, are illustrated onlyconventionally, and may be operated in any well-known and approvedmanner.

1819 indicate gears, which are keyed, or otherwise secured, to the shaft6 exterior to the cylinder.

20*21 indicate gears, which are j ournaled upon studs 2223 mounted uponthe side-frame 7 of the folder.

24-25 indicate pins or studs, which are mounted upon the inner surfaceof the gears 2021. and are of a size adapted to enter, engage and movefreely within the grooves 11 upon the cross-heads 10. With theconstruction shown, in which the folding cylinder carries two foldingblades diametrically opposite each other, I prefer to make the gears 18and 19 two to one with reference to the gears 20-2l, and when soconstructed each of the gears 2021 will carry a single stud or pin.

26 indicates a guide whose inner surface is circular and concentric withthe axis of theg'jblding cylinder 5 and supported upon the folder frameby supports 27. The portion of the guide 26 which lies immediately abovethe folding rollers 12 and .13 is cut away to permit the operation ofthe cross-heads, as hereinafter described.

The operation of the mechanism above described is as follows. Referringto Figs. 2 and 3, the arrows indicate the direction of rotation of theseveral parts. Fig. 2 shows the position of the parts just after thestud or pin 24 has engaged the slot in one of the cross-heads 10. Themechanism being set in operation, the crossheads bearing upon the innersurface of the guides 26 are carried around with the foldingcylindor inthe position in which they are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, being retained inthat position by their bearing upon the inner surface of the guide 215.In this position it will be obvious that the folding blades are out ofoperative position. As the parts are carried around by the rotation ofthe cylinder and the several gears, they are so adjusted that just asthey reach the position shown in Fig. 2 the forward or lead end of thegroove 1] of one of the cross-heads 10 engages the pin 24. The speed ofthe gears ]8]9 being two to one with reference to that of the gears202l, the crosshcad is carried around at a greater speed than the pin24. In consequence of this as the pin 24 moves downward the cross-headis rocked into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, rockingwith it the shaft 8 and the folding blades 9,-thus thrusting the paperinto the bite of the fold ing rollers 12 and 13. It will be understood,of course, that in Figs. 2 and 3, which are sectional views on line 2-2of Fig. I, the gear 20 is shown by dotted lilies. When the cross-headsand folding blades have reached the position shown in dotted lines inFig. 2, the stud 25 at the other end of the machine is just entering thegroove in the head 10 upon the other end of the machine. As the groovedhead 10 upon the other, or righthand, end of the machine'the onefarthest away in Figs. 2 and S- is carried around, the pin 25 engagingthe slot rocks the cross-head 10 and with it the shaft 8 and the foldingblades 9 into the position shown in Fig. 3, thus withdrawing the foldingblade from operative position. In this position the cross-head 10becomes engaged again with the inner surface of the guide 26 and iscarried around as before. As the cylinder ro tates, the cross-head ponthe opposite side of the crosshead first engaged becomes engagedsuccessively by the pins 24 and 25, as above described, and operates inits turn to thrust the paper into the bite of the folding rollers.

It will be apparent from the above description that inasmuch as thecylinder and the gears 20 and 21 rotate in opposite directions the stud24 and the crosshead which it engages will be trayeling in the samedirection and continue to travel in substantially the same directionduring their engagement in throwing the knife into operating position,and that the pin 25 and the head which it engages will be traveling inthe same general direction from the time of their engagement until thetime of their disengagement in throwing the knife out of its foldingposition and back into its normal position. It will also be apparentthat, in view of the above facts, and also in view of the fact that thecross-heads are engaged while in their normal position with thefolding;,knife at right angles to the radius of the wheels intersectingits axis and are disengaged as the parts are returned to their normalposition again with the cross-head in position to enter the guide 26,the operation of the knife will be performed smoothly and withoutviolent contact of parts. This is greatly conducive to the attainment ofa high degree of speed in the operation of the mechanism, and by meansof these devices I believe that a higher speed may be maintained thanhas hitherto been deemed practicable or possible.

I have illustrated and shown my mechanism as rotating in the directionshown by the arrows in the several figures. This has been done forpurposes of con venience of description, as it is perfectly obvious thatthe parts may rotate in the opposite direction and the operation be thesame.

In the above description I have described the crossheads as providedwith a groove which runs longitudinally of the cross-heads and thelength thereof, and they are so shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of thedrawings, This is the form in which i prefer to make them on account ofease of construction, but it will be obvious from the above descriptionthat only that portion of the groove 11 which lies near the ends of thecrossheads is engaged by the stud or. operative. I have shown,therefore, in Fig. 4 a modified form of the cross-head, in which insteadof a longitudinal groove or slot opening at both ends and traversing thelength of the cross-head it is provided with two grooves or recesses ll.entering one from each end of the cross-head and of sutlicient depth toinsure the proper operation and clearance, and this form may be usedwithout in any way departing from the spirit of my invention. It will hetherefore understood that when I use the expression grooved cross-heador groove in either the specification or claims it is not intended to belimited to a slot which runs longitudinally the entire length of thecross-head, but is to be understood as including equivalent forms ofstructure, such, for instance, that shown in Fig. 4.

That which I claim as my invention, and'desire to socare by LettersPatent, is,

1. The combination witlra folding cylinder, a shaft carried thereby, afolding blade mounted on said shaft, and a cross-head at each end ofsaid shaft exterior 'to the folding cylinder and provided with a groove,of rotating members at each end of said cylinder, a stud carried by eachof said rotating members and adapted to enter and engage the groove uponsaid cross-head to operate said folding blade as the cylinder rotates,and folding rollers enacting with said folding blade.

The combination with a folding cylinder, a shaft carried thereby, afolding blade mounted on said shaft, and a cross-head at each end ofsaid shaft exterior to the folding cylinder and provided with a groove,of rotating members at each end of said cylinder, a stud carried by eachof said rotating members and adapted to enter and engage the groove uponsaid cross-head to operate said folding blade as the cylinder rotates, aguide adapted to hear on the cross hcad upon one side of said machineand hold said folding blade out of operative position when not engagedby said studs, and folding rollers coacting with said fold in: blade.

3. The combination with a folding cylinder, a folding blade carriedthereby and folding rollers coacting with said folding blade, of :1cross-head connected with said folding hlade at one end of the cylinderand provided with a groove. a rotating member, a stud carried therebyand adapted to enter and engage said groove to rock said blade intooperative position as the cylinder rotates, a crosshead connected withsaid folding blade upon the other side of said cylinder and providedwith a groove, a rotating member, and a pin carried by said rotatingmember adapted to enter and engage the groove on said se'condmamedcross-head and to rock the said folding blade out of operative positionas the cylinder rotates.

HANS P. HUSBY.

Witnesses (J. E. PICKARD, W. H. DE BusK.

